Who'da thunk it, but -- in the midst of a national love affair with all things nuclear -- the great folks of Vermont have actually voted to close a nuclear plant. Sort of. But it's good enough for me. 

Really, the state Senate voted to not renew the contract for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, which is a little different than closing it, but it does appear that the plant will have to shut down by 2012. 

One interesting tidbit is that the company running the plant (Entergy) has set aside $347 million for decommissioning -- an act that will cost $875 million. Oh, and they're planning on doing that decommissioning in 2067 -- a mere 55 years after the plant goes off line. 

This plant, by the way, has had a number of environmental & safety problems and was ranked dead last in an August 2001 report on plant security. 

I'm excited to see some common sense popping up on our national energy plan.